Not an excuse to fan the flames of regional British nationalism in the aftermath of last Saturday afternoon's titanic battle, but instead to echo Jenkins' regimental hymn, or more likely Powell's shameless Welsh stereotyping.
Finished VB about a week ago but have been slow to blog. Funny volume this, not a lot seems to happen and yet so much does. Jenkins' posting in Wales, transfer to NI, the birth of his child, the fall of Gwatkins and the inexorable rise of you know who. I very much enjoyed the weekend with the Tollands, but the final ten pages take the award for best moment, being played out to absolute perfection with superb comic timing. The series as a whole has probably benefitted from the cabinet re-shuffle of Jenkins close acquaintances, although it's not clear which of them we shall see again - Bithel, yes (he's already cropped up in the first few pages of SA), but Kedward or Gwatkins? Actually, what am I saying? As we all know, if there's a random coincidence to be had along the way, Powell will make sure of it.
So a good volume, but very much along the lines of A Question of Upbringing, full of signifiers of things to come, but slightly insubstantial in itself. Have had a brief Powell break to read Falling Towards England (the second volume of Clive James' excellent Unreliable Memoirs, complete with references to both Proust and Trinity Hall) and Ian McEwan's ever-so-horrific but utterly gripping debut, The Cement Garden. Started SA properly this morning, so will blog again in a week or so, when finished.
Forward march!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment